


Lebensgefährte

by Yudonomi



Series: AusHun Week 2020 [5]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AusHunWeek2020, F/M, Modern Era, Relationship Study, gets somewhere between lime and lemon at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yudonomi/pseuds/Yudonomi
Summary: Let it not be said that the German language didn't have a word for everything.Written for AusHun Week 2020 Day 5: Soulmates
Relationships: Austria/Hungary (Hetalia)
Series: AusHun Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775827
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Lebensgefährte

**Author's Note:**

> Jaroslav = Slovakia // Iryna = Ukraine // Erika = Liechtenstein  
> If my ASG is wrong, feel free to correct me.  
> Set in the modern day.

Erzsébet breathed a sigh of relief when the meeting finally adjourned, pushing her chair back and stretching her arms above her with a large yawn. Across her, Antonio was nudging his brother awake and to her right, Jaroslav was rubbing his eyes. Even Ludwig seemed to be swaying on his feet as he went on and on about policy after policy.

"That's what you get for having a meeting in this weather. Everyone likes sleeping in on a rainy day."

Erzsébet turned to her left, where Roderich was stuffing his papers into a file, shaking his head "Honestly, who bothers going out on a day like this?"

She glanced at a few seats away and said, "England seems to be just fine."

"It's always raining there. Nothing new to him."

"Well, _you're_ rather awake." She teased, getting up from her seat and following the crowd out of the conference room. Cool air greeted her the moment she stepped outside, the world painted in grey by pouring rain. She shivered in her blazer. She should have worn the thicker jacket instead. Roderich raised his brow and unbuttoned his coat before draping it around her shoulders.

"Trust me, I'd rather not be." He replied with a small quirk to his lips as she glared at him. He didn't need to be all gentlemanly with her "Yours or mine?"

"Yours. We're already next door."

"If you insist."

After making a rather short walk to the hotel Roderich was staying at, Erzsébet was more than ready to throw herself onto the bed the moment they reached his room. She watched Roderich hang up his hat and their umbrellas before heading for the electric kettle. She lay down on the comfortable cushions when he returned a few minutes later, holding two mugs. He gave one to her and she sat up and took it as he sat by her side. The hot chocolate warmed her insides and she put her head on his shoulder as they both stared at the rain fall outside the window.

If she turned to him, she knew she would see Roderich tapping his fingers on his thigh in a melody only he could hear. Instead, Erzsébet continued to look at the city view. Roderich took a sip of his coffee and put the empty mug on the bedside table before wrapping his now-free arm around her waist. She scooted closer, leaning more against his chest than his shoulder.

"Feeling sleepy?" he asked.

"Not really. Just cold." She drank the last of her chocolate and put the mug on the table beside Roderich's.

"I could get you another glass."

"No thanks."

"Alright."

Silence settled between them. Erzsébet closed her eyes, tugging Roderich's coat around her tighter. He was still playing with one hand, and caressing her with the other, fingers gently moving between her wavy locks. He looked down to bury his face in her hair, and she looked up to pull him by his chin, taking his lips in hers. Roderich ran his hand down her face and cupped her cheek, whispering, "You're beautiful. I love you so much, Erzsi."

She just smiled back, and so he kissed her again, and she started to feel a little less cold then.

\---

"It's getting dark."

Roderich hummed, sipping on his third cup of coffee, the last the room offered for free. "So it is."

Erzsébet turned towards him, away from the window. Her hair was a curly mess that tumbled down her face. "Want me to call room service for dinner? Or some takeaway?"

Roderich hummed again and took another sip. She could almost see the gears turning in his head as he placed his cup on top of the counter. "The rain has let up, so why don't we go out instead? I'll pay."

Her eyebrows shot up and her jaw almost dropped right open. "Where's my Austria and what have you done with him?"

"...Do I really look that much of a miser?" He asked before shaking his head "Actually, don't answer that; you'll be listing off all my flaws until sunrise."

"Until breakfast."

"At least I'll be spared from listening to Gilbert. That buffoon set his voice as my alarm." quipped Roderich "Now freshen up and we'll go in...let's say fifteen minutes?"

"Sure."

\---

Once she managed to tame her hair so that it stopped looking like a bird's nest, it only took Erzsébet about five more minutes to get ready. Roderich, on the other hand, took up all fifteen minutes and then five more somehow. Not that it surprised her. What was more surprising was that he finished in under an hour.

They exited the hotel with Erzsébet's arm locked around Roderich's. The streets were packed with people in the clear weather, even though the sidewalk was still full of puddles from earlier.

"Careful," she tugged on him as he nearly stepped into one.

"Ah- Thank you."

It only took them a short while to get to a restaurant that was around halfway between their respective hotels, and Erzsébet found a table for them by the window. Seated and going over the menu, she scrutinized every item, glancing at the man opposite her every once in a while.

"Erzsi, are you alright?"

"What's the budget?" She quickly asked.

"That's unimportant-"

"Give me a number or I'm paying."

Roderich frowned "Twe- Thirty Euro. Is that enough?"

"More than!" She exclaimed "It's not like today's a special occasion, Roderich."

"Any time spent with you is."

She blinked "What?"

"I know you heard me the first time."

Erzsébet rolled her eyes, laughing softly. Roderich huffed and although most of his face was hidden behind the menu, she knew that he was blushing. She turned back to her own menu. She could have more fun with him later.

\---

Dinner went by with no event then they were back again on the streets, much more full and tired after a hearty meal. Erzsébet leaned her head against Roderich's forearm. "That was some of the best pesto I had. Do you think Feli could make us some next time?" she asked.

Roderich shrugged, "I think he'd make any kind of pasta, regardless if anyone asked."

"Ah, true." She shook her head, thinking of the endearing Italian. Still, maybe she could ask him at the meeting tomorrow; she'd had to think about it more.

They were on the way back to Roderich's hotel to drop him off, because she (and everyone else, honestly) did not trust his sense of direction to let him do the opposite and drop her off at her hotel and make it back to his safely. Erzsébet had just finished formulating Operation Pesto in her mind when she noticed Roderich staring blankly ahead and shook his arm gently. "Rodi? Is something the matter?"

He snapped out of it, turning to her "Ah nothing. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Well, you know, things and such."

"'Things and such.'"

"Yes."

Silence passed for a few more steps until she looked at him again. "Aren't you gonna tell me what those things are?"

"They're unimportant, really-"

"Try me."

Roderich paused, as if gathering his thoughts, "I'm merely reflecting."

"About?"

"About how much I'd appreciate it if you stopped prodding."

" _Austria._ "

He sighed, and there was silence for a few steps. When he spoke again, it was soft, like the words would shatter a mere decibel higher "You and I. It's been over thirty years and I can still hardly believe it."

Erzsébet flicked her head "Well I certainly can." Good riddance to that fence.

"Erzsi, you-"

"I what?"

She turned back to him and realized why he was right to hesitate sharing at all. She did not like the face he was making.

His gaze was gentle but she knew something else was hiding behind it. Roderich paused, and the world slowed around them, his words nearly inaudible to her "You know that I have the deepest affection for you."

"Yes, you've only told me since like, 1717."

"You know what I mean."

She did. Erzsébet gave a weak smile. Seventy years apart had changed Roderich and made his taciturn self looser as he spent every opportunity to tell her how much she meant to him. Seventy years apart had changed her too, just the opposite direction. Speaking her mind had never been so hard before.

"I do."

"I hope so."

\---

After dropping off Roderich, Erzsébet took a cab to her own hotel. After paying the driver, she went up to her room, kicked her shoes off, and headed straight to the bathroom for a quick shower.

Upon exiting the bathroom, she dug her phone from beneath the pile of clothes it had been buried under and scrolled through the notifications after putting away her laundry. There were a few texts from Feliks about going out for drinks once the seminar ended, an image from Gilbert she was sure was of something ridiculous, Iryna's long "just checking in" message, and finally, right at the bottom, Roderich from about an hour and a half ago, likely from just when they had parted ways. She replied to Feliks ( _‘Hell yea wat time and place’_ ), gushed over Gilbert's photo of Berlitz dressed up as a dragon, texted Iryna back an equally long message with a series of heart emojis attached, and finally got around to reading Roderich's text.

**From: Roderich**

_Stay safe. -_ _Ö_ _._

She smiled. Even though she had told him time and time again that she had saved his number, Roderich always insisted on signing every text.

**To: Roderich**

_Jgh. How r u?_

The reply was almost immediate.

**From: Roderich**

_Quite fine, if not rather tired. I hope for clear skies tomorrow. -_ _Ö_ _._

**To: Roderich**

_Just check the weather report_

A few minutes passed before the reply arrived.

**From: Roderich**

_60% chance of rain. Hope is lost. -_ _Ö_ _._

**To: Roderich**

_Just hope that Alfred or Lud wont talk tmrw and I wont tell anyone if you sleep during the meeting_

**From: Roderich**

_I am not going to sleep at a meeting._

_I will now retire for the night and I hope you will follow soon too,_

_so you will have sufficient energy for tomorrow. I lieb di. Bis morgen. -_ _Ö_ _._

**To: Roderich**

_See ya ;P_

She read his last five words again then switched off her phone and charged it. She turned on the television for background noise while she pulled her hair out of its towel turban and combed it. Wrestling with tangle after tangle, Erzsébet wondered how on earth Roderich could enjoy the task; it was far from soothing and she had over five centuries' worth of snapped brushes to prove it.

Erzsébet stopped brushing to fix the knots she found. Roderich was much better at handling hair than her. She remembered the many nights they spent together whenever Maria Theresia wasn't looking ("The master and a maid, what a scandal!" the Archduchess had exclaimed once), when Erzsébet would come into his room, and he would lead her to the bed where she would sit with her back to him as his fingers wove through her tresses. He'd take out the leaves and twigs that always found their way onto her, or the occasional blood if there had been a battle. Then he would kiss her and they'd sleep together, and by dawn she would sneak out and back to her own room to get ready for work.

They had stopped doing that after 1848, and were too bitter to continue even after getting married. She had loved him- sometimes thought of her heart as his territory, even- but it would be wrong to say that she had been a happy wife. She and Sisi were similar like that.

The divorce had been freedom. The decades afterward, not so much. Some of the scars from that period had yet to heal. Most were on her arms and legs, wounds she received in the war and revolution. Others were deep inside. Those she was not entirely sure how she got.

Erzsébet cursed under her breath as another knot finally came undone, but not without pulling out a few strands of hair with it. Unsurprising. She never had the patience to detangle, hated dealing with messes that brute force couldn't solve. It wasn't like she didn't want to respond to Roderich, she just couldn't. A hundred years was nothing in her age, but it gave her plenty of time to reflect on their relationship. If they even were in one. Or had one. Trust Austria to be the most complicated nation to label. Oh, how her diplomats and historians would have a field day if they even knew half the history she shared with him.

She groaned as she finally broke through the last tangle, her hair yielding to the comb. The time displayed on the television told her that it was already past ten p.m. Erzsébet decided that scrutinizing her feelings over the past century was too much work at too late an hour, so she put her comb back in her bag, turned off the television, and went to sleep.

She woke up at five and remembered to bring her jacket as she walked out of her room. By the time she reached the conference room, it was half an hour before the meeting was due to start, but she knew that they were only strict on time because Ludwig was taking charge. Meetings usually began at least thirty minutes late on a good day. She bought an espresso from a nearby vending machine and took her seat. Basch was already there, as was Erika, seating near the end of the table. The girl smiled at her and Erzsébet waved back. At the other end of the room, by the projector cords, was Ludwig, busy sorting them. Apart from the four of them, she could hear Francis and Arthur arguing outside, and she decided to quickly finish her coffee so she could...observe them. She took one great swig and walked out of the room, making her way to the garbage bin just barely slowly enough to watch the action.

After five minutes, the duo made their way back towards the room, and almost disappointed at how short the spectacle was, Erzsébet made the rest of the twenty-foot trip at a normal pace.

"Grüß dich, Erzsi."

She startled, dropping her cup into the bin. She let out a loud breath as she looked up at Roderich, who was raising an eyebrow at her.

"Was I...interrupting something?" He asked.

"No, no, just throwing trash." She chuckled nervously "Good day to you too."

Roderich glanced behind her, and his brow slowly lowered. Oh. So they were still there. He looked back at Erzsébet and cleared his throat. She knew he was aware of her habits.

"Shall we go inside, or are you waiting for someone?"

She shook her head, grinning "I'm good." She took his hand and started to drag him down the hall "Let's go!"

\---

They adjourned around noon this time, and after asking Feliciano to bring pesto the next time he came over, Erzsébet walked out into the sweltering noon heat, a man grumbling behind her.

"I'll pay for lunch?" She asked as Roderich walked up to her. He was dabbing his face with a handkerchief and hanging his coat off his arm.

"If that's alright." He replied, shaking his head "The forecast was a lie."

"Yup." She regretted the jacket, but it wasn't bothering her so she kept it on "Come on, let's get you something cold before you melt."

The solution came in the form of gelato from a nearby stall. Roderich was frowning, but dug through his serving with an almost desperate appetite. "This is hardly an appropriate meal." He muttered.

Erzsébet smiled, "It isn't. You just looked like a dying snowman out there."

"I do not."

"Admit you did and I'll buy you another."

The face he made reminded her of petulant young Ludwig with Gilbert, and when Roderich didn't reply, she took it as a sign of victory. She began eating her own serving, only stopping when she noticed that Roderich had stopped eating and was staring intently at her. "Rodi?"

"Let's call room service."

"What?"

"Room service. For lunch."

"You complete cheapskate-"

"Is that a no?"

"No." She smiled, placing her spoon in her empty cup "But my hotel. The Pörkölt is amazing."

\---

A meal in her room later, Erzsébet was closing the door behind the employee taking out their empty dishes when she felt herself being embraced. Her lips curled up in a smirk.

"Is this why you wanted room service?"

"Among other things." Roderich whispered into her hair. "Less walking needed."

"You still need to travel back to your hotel."

"Shhh," He moved down her face to her neck, his breath hot against her throat "Less talking."

Erzsébet exhaled and let Roderich have his way. She pulled off his glasses as his fingers wove through the buttons of her dress, and they fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and clothes. It hadn't been long since their last- Isten, they probably did it more times this decade alone than the past two centuries combined- but she still felt like a nervous maiden whenever he took the lead, and her breath caught in her throat as his hands swept down her back, chest, and waist.

Roderich was not greedy these days. He had long realized that there was nothing he could take from her that she would not give anyway, and instead became more attentive and attuned to her needs. She melted beneath his touches and when he pushed into her, Erzsébet shuddered beneath him and embraced him whole, the ex-husband slash lover slash something she still loved with her entire self despite everything.

"Erzsi?" He whispered.

"Y-yes?" Her breaths became sharper as he picked up speed. "I thought less talking."

Hesitation flashed in his face for a moment, before being replaced by familiar affection "I love you. And-" He hissed, exertion evident "And I don't care how long I have to wait until you'll say it back. If you even will. I always will."

Her chest swelled, and Erzsébet grabbed him closer, sealing the space between them. Her heart bubbled and stuck in her throat, and she almost wanted to yell back at him. How could he be so certain? How was he so sure of everything?

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and she kissed Roderich as if he were air, gasping and desperate. He matched her neediness, moving at a speed that made her crave more and more until heat burst outward from her center all the way to her curled toes. Roderich buried himself deeper and followed as he came as well, pressing his face against the crown of Erzsébet's head and moaning her name. After it was over, he pulled back to look at her and gave her another peck before collapsing back on her chest. She clung onto him, heaving and euphoric in the afterglow as she watched him rise and fall with each breath she took.

Rise and fall. Like his power waxing and waning, unlike her unfading feelings. Like their relationship, full of highs and lows, unlike his devotion to her.

They'd been mere rivals millenia ago. What were they now? What will they be another millennium later?

"Roderich?" She asked once she felt she caught her breath.

Roderich was still panting and barely shifted his head towards her "Yes?"

"What are we?"

Roderich hummed, eyebrows slanting towards each other, and Erzsébet sunk into her own thoughts as well. They certainly weren't husband and wife, nor were they exactly allies. Neighbour seemed too impersonal for the level of intimacy they shared, and she was sure they weren't enemies at the moment.

Time ticked, and Erzsébet fell deeper into her mind until Roderich spoke again.

"Lebensgefährte."

"What?"

"A companion for life." He explained, his hands reaching up to play with her hair, sliding down her sweaty locks "I don't think any other word can quite fit, given the many different roles we've taken in each other's lives. You and I hadn't always been the most amicable, but what was certain was that you had been by my side for nearly my entire life, and I hope that you will still be for the rest of it.

"Which is why I said earlier that I will wait. We have all the time in the world. Besides," Roderich smirked "I succeeded at courting you before; it's only a matter of time until I will again."

She laughed, gently kicking him in the thigh. Let it not be said that the German language didn't have a word for everything. Or that Austrians weren't confident to the point of arrogance. But maybe that last one was just Austria.

Erzsébet cracked up again, feeling years lighter. "Don't be so sure of yourself." She warned, planting her lips on his forehead "I like it though. Life partner." She felt him laugh too, rising and falling on her chest again. They stayed in their strange pose, until Roderich said he felt too warm again and pulled away, putting back on his shirt. He helped her with her dress as well, and then Erzsébet sat with her back to him as he combed her hair, just like he always had. When he was done and she actually resembled more human than tumbleweed, she made her way over to the electric kettle to heat water.

"I still don't know how you enjoy it." She said as she flicked the braid he made over her shoulder while she poured the hot liquid into small cups.

"It's calming."

She hummed as she continued to prepare the drink before handing a fresh cup of hotel-grade coffee to Roderich. He gave a mutter of thanks as he stirred it. Erzsébet sat beside him with her own cup as she browsed through television channels with the remote using her other hand. Roderich leaned his head on her shoulder, and she shook her head in light exasperation. The height gap was doing him no help, and she was sure he'd complain of an aching neck within the hour.

"I love you so much." He said again. Erzsébet looked down at him and smiled, deciding she had stayed silent long enough.

"I love you too."

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is such a liberal interpretation of soulmates (which I define as people 'meant' to be together, whether by fate or choice or elsewise) that I doubt it even fits, but I hope it still sort of does? sdfghkfjd


End file.
